About Chris Donnelly

Well Inda, if ye can get people to laugh at the lies you told us four years ago then you’re right. Chris, the key thing in this election is that, in the three largest Irish cities, Sinn Féin are the largest parties, a welcome development in the 26 counties where they can now show the electorate there how they oppose household charges in Lifford and, 150 yards away, they inflict the largest rise in household charge in a council they control. How will they balance books in Donegal while in Derry/Strabane they impose further tax increase on overburdened households? God love the people in Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

cynic2

…and in de Nurthen Heartland they slip back a fraction …even the faithful are wavering after 20 years of experience living in shitholes with SF MLAs they still find themselves living in shitholes ….

Still its almost 2016 so dig out de flegs. How how does it go

“Soldiers are we……er ….hang on ……..no actually we weren’t ….honest….never in me life and I am affronted that you damage the peace process y questioning me about it”

Zig70

Political gold for SF. http://www.rte.ie/news/election2014/#/local They now look like a party that could take power in the south. Even if they don’t , the agitation from the south towards the north will green like the Ballymurphy calls.

Politico68

Incredible result in the south, I am really shocked that SF did as well due to the media onslaught. In the week leading up to the election Independent news and media launched a blistering campaign on the Shinners. Every single day for a week there were at least two maybe three very aggressive anti Sinn Fein articles covering pages trying to influence the election. Moreover, this morning in the Sunday Independent there was a call by the paper asking RTE and the government to assist the media corporation in its aim of stopping Sinn Fein saying they could no longer single handedly continue to try roll a bolder up a hill. This is incredible stuff, Taoseach Enda Kenny has also reportedly refused to rule out coalition with Sinn Fein after the next general election. It would appear that he now realises the Shinners are on the up and simply cannot be dismissed as insignificant anymore. A great day for Sinn Fein, the largest party in Ireland and the largest party in the five biggest cities on the Island. Whats was the title of that song years ago, I think labour used it at a conference….´things can only get better´ Happy Days 😉

Mickish

Slugger,after gour and the Irish independants sustained attacks on Sinn Fein,they still came out on top,time for you to retire Mick,the Brits should supply you with a good pension for services rendered!cheer up old chap!

abucs

The sketch was quite funny.

Don’t hear so much these days about the absolute 10% ceiling of political support that Sinn Fein has in the south. Is there a new ceiling or was it all just wishful thinking?

RegisterForThisSite

@Roy Walsh

“150 yards away, they inflict the largest rise in household charge in a council they control.”

Roy any chance of some detail or a link to this?

Jagdip

@Politico68, that INM editorial on Sunday was incredible

“So far, all parties have left the heavy lifting on exposing Sinn Fein to the INM group. But we cannot continue to roll a rock up a hill alone while being subjected to the sneers of a Coalition which confines itself to cheap jibes at Sinn Fein instead of subjecting it to sustained close scrutiny as we have done for the past 30 years. In that regard, RTE needs a reality check.”

Isn’t rolling a rock up a hill what Sisyphus was condemned to do? And isn’t that the modern definition of fruitless endeavour?

INM isn’t just anti-SF, the BelTel appears to be hostile towards nationalists generally, though that may be down to historical commercial considerations.

Last week, INM commissioned a special political poll on Gerry Adams and MOT who was killed in 1972. Talk about loaded questioning. INM is still the most read press group down South with the Indo/Sindo/Sunday World especially and is undoubtedly an retarding obstacle to SF.

Mainland Ulsterman

a lot of weight seems to be given both in the Republic and here in Britain on “largest party” status. I can see why, but let’s get this in perspective: the vast majority of voters didn’t vote UKIP but voted for a “conventional” party (same goes for SF in the Republic of Ireland). In both cases they have more representative than before and in UKIP’s case, more than any other single party – but they’re still a minority and quite a small one at that of representative overall. Britain has not turned purple and the Republic has not turned into West Belfast. Calm down dears.

The serious point is that results like this can scare the mainstream parties into more aping of the extremists. That is the last thing they should do. For both UKIP and SF, what is needed now is proper scrutiny of their credentials and character, which in both cases is pretty odious (albeit UKIP just pick on scapegoats as hate targets, they haven’t actually killed any of them). And economically, both are at best eccentric. Scrapping the minimum wage? Privatising bits of the NHS? Lowering the top rate of tax for the rich?

You only get away with those policies if press and opponents allow you to. Let’s hope 2015 sees them judged as other parties are.

mac tire

“UKIP just pick on scapegoats as hate targets, they haven’t actually killed any of them”

Good man, MU – just remind me how many people Sinn Féin killed? I think I missed that one.

Roy Walsh

RegisterForThisSite Just google ‘rates increase Strabane council and check the http://www.ark.ac.uk for details of SF having more seats there than all the other parties combined. It is a fact and unfortunately twenty six county media/political class have approached this from a wholly uninformed perspective, unable to use these facts to undermine the SF policy of telling people in Donegal one thing while doing the opposite in west Tyrone. Strabane tax payer’s suffered a near 7% increase while the largest council of the six counties froze their rates and other similarly councils saw an increase of less than 2%.

and for your reference, it took place throughout the British Isles, centring on a place called Northern Ireland, during the last three decades of the last century and into this one also.

Are you on the right website?

Note: if you’re seriously suggesting the old canard that SF and the IRA are “separate organisations”, then you’re taking a lot of people for fools who aren’t fools. It was even the same actual people in many cases, including at the leadership level.

I’m a market researcher who plays football. When I’m playing football, I am still a market researcher. It’s not that complicated really. Too much for some obviously …

Roy Walsh

Jagdip, yes, this was last year, this year the Strabane district rate comes Third highest, only to Larne and Derry where, Sinn Féin are also the largest party. This again is within spitting distance of Donegal, this time Lifford council (now gone) so highlighting further the hypocrisy of SF bleating re: household charge in the Free State while imposing large increases in the six counties where they have, in Derry’s case with the SDLP, control of the council.

Jagdip

@Roy

SF definitely need to be called to account on the apparent schizophrenia on community/household/property charges, but seems nationalist councils are mixed

Dungannon South Tyrone appears lowest in NI. Belfast appears lower than most. Mind you Ards is also low.

Haven’t the old media analysed these costs to conclude whether SF controlled or largest party councils are more or less expensive than others?

Roy Walsh

jagdip, precisely, I have put it to Pat Kenny and now Seán O Rourke but neither were interested. If this ignorance of the facts continues we can blame Newstalk and the national broadcaster when the household charge and water charges are crippling households under SF governments. This years rates 0% increases are a little misleading as it was a response to the flag protesting.